An MTGCS Notebook - Ideas + Inspiration Welcome

Since I've come back to MTGCS, I've noticed that I have been deleting a LOT of cards - like probably about twenty or thirty so far, most of them shortly after making them, because I'm quite simply not happy with how they came out. Not only does this waste a lot of time, it also results in a very large lack of motivation. So, today is the day I fix this problem.

This thread is going to be a place for people to post ideas for cards and other concepts they have before actually making them, so that others can give feedback, and they can better envision what they may actually look like. It can also be used as a forum for discourse about mechanical concepts, or whatever else to do with Custom Magic you've been pondering on - wording or rules problems and whatnot. Hopefully this will, in the long run, become a fairly active, useful thread, as well as save me an awful lot of time.

==Brief Rules Guide==

1. While providing criticism, please be polite, respectful and tolerant of mistakes ect. ect. Or, in other words, don't be an asshole.2. Don't spam, although I may occasionally be guilty of this (a LOT of mechanical concepts come into my head during the day).3. Off topic chat is generally ok, though not in huge excess, and it should be vaguely related to the thread or various past comments.4. Don't outright steal someone else's ideas, please.

If I've done something stupid or dumb, feel free to correct me!

Comments

So these are some cards/mechanical concepts I've been pondering on recently:______________________________________________________________________________"Fanatic Revolutionary" {1}{W}Creature - Human Warrior

Search your library for a card and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library. Target opponent names a card. Reveal your hand and discard all cards with the chosen name.Communing with a demon is the ultimate lottery.Don't like that flavour text much.______________________________________________________________________________"Diplomatic Cogsprocket"{2}Creature - Assembly-Worker

A deck may have any number of cards named "Diplomatic Cogsprocket".Will of the Council - When "Diplomatic Cogsprocket" enters the battlefield, each player votes power or numbers. For each numbers vote, search your library for a card named Diplomatic Cogsprocket, reveal it and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library. For each power votes, put a +1/+1 counter on each assembly worker you control.2/1______________________________________________________________________________Whenever one or more cards leave the top of your library, {EFFECT}.Works with mill, scry and surveil.

Ok. I think some time I am going to post a digitalized copy of it. It contains ramblings about my card idea, the ideas themselves, the dates of publication, effects I fall back on, etc. Might actually be a decent read! XD

Madness {0}{t}: Add one mana of any colour to your mana pool._________________________________________________________________________________This card I really like -- "Carnarium of the Archdemon"Land

If a spell or ability would cause you to discard Carnarium of the Archdemon, put it onto the battlefield instead of putting it into your graveyard.

{t}: Add {c}. You may add one mana of any color instead. If you do, this mana can only be spent on madness costs or abilities of permanents with madness._________________________________________________________________________________Here's another terrible idea - some kind of madness effect, but for mill instead of discard...?

@KJMartin: I am intrigued by the 'millness' mechanic you've suggested. It would be rather narrow in terms of design space, and would require enablers, but I can see it in a set like, say, Ixalan (where explore exists to enable it), GRN (surveil, obviously, and undergrowth enablers like Glowspore Shaman) or Shadows/Eldritch Moon (where similar enablers for delirium existed). What would you name it, though? The wording should probably be similar to madness:

Millness [Cost] (If this card would be put into your graveyard from your library, exile it instead. When you do, cast it for its millness cost or put it into your graveyard.)

It can be supported by some commons like this:

Common Enabler with Payoff2UBCreature - Enabler Payoff (Common)3/1

Put the top two cards of your library into your graveyard: Common Enabler with Payoff gains flying until end of turn. Activate this ability only once each turn.

Whenever you cast a spell for its millness cost, Common Enabler with Payoff gains deathtouch until end of turn.

@bnew07I'd probably agree with that. Two mana would almost certainly make it a staple in storm decks, which nobody really wants. Perhaps {B}{B}{B} and instant? That does allow Dark Ritual to segway perfectly into it however.I don't really think that the carnarium or the mox are busted. How much do decks like Hollow One or Izzet Phoenix really are about mana increases, especially if it doesn't add to your storm count? Hmm. I'm definitely unsure about that one however.

Perhaps making them both enter tapped, or maybe deal you damage could even them out? That way you couldn't chain discard effects together with them, and get out phoenixes incredibly early on.

I think for Risky Ritual that even 1BB would be okay since the card organically creates a way for your opponent to interact with it.

The problem with the Mox/carnarium is threefold. 1) it allows access to 2 mana on turn one reliably with a one mana discard outlet, which is ubiquitous in modern/legacy. 2) they aren’t legendary, meaning that you can have extremely busted draws with multiples. 3) I do think most faithless looting decks would play this, but this would likely enable new archetypes that are degenerate and considerably speed up existing ones. Hollow one would love to cast two burning inquiry/faithless looting on turn one. So would Phoenix. When your deck is full of contrips and card selection, more mana to get to 3 spells in a turn for pheonix or more mana to get explosive turn 1/2 draws for hollow one just doesn’t seem like a reasonable addition to the modern format.

@KJMartin: ah that was only intended to be a placeholder name. That's why I asked you for a name for the mechanic. I was only suggesting a wording for the reminder text.

Bedlam sounds pretty cool, although it sounds like a callback to Bedlam Reveler, which is kinda different. Some insanity related term. Maybe a callback to some famous library mill card, like Narcomoeba. I actually see the mechanic as being functionally closer to miracle than madness, so maybe something along those lines would also work.

@bnew07Hm, perhaps. I do think it seems very conditional however - it relies on you not only having a discard spell and no other cards that are better to discard, but also needs to have a use - there are often times in which one extra mana probably won't do too much in what is essentially an aggro deck.

Ultimately though, it would probably be better looking like this:

"Madness Mox" (No mana cost)Legendary Artifact

Madness {0}"Madness Mox" enters the battlefield tapped.{t}: Add {C}.

That's one hundred percent balanced. To even out the carnarium, just ETBing tapped would probably fix the power level, although I'm definitely not certain if it even is broken.

I also think a discard/ramp deck involving them would be far too inconsistent, and would whiff too often (most of your discard card spells doing nothing with your ramp spells and vice versa). The carnarium would also likely be used little in phoenix decks (if at all) - they have very little use of colorless mana, only really 9/10 cards (Thing in the Ice, Manamorphose, occasionally a chart a course or a Fiery Temper or whatever.

@KalamMekharOh, okay thanks.A few cards that could work with the mechanic that I thought up:I definitely think that some cards with the mechanics could themselves be an enabler as well._________________________________________________________________________________"Asylum Attendant" {2}{U}Creature - Human Wizard (Common/Uncommon)

"Bedlam" {U}{T}: Add {C}. Each player puts the top card of their library into their graveyard.0/1_________________________________________________________________________________"Shatter the Mind" {U}Instant (Common)

"Bedlam" {2}{U}Target player puts the top four cards of their library into their graveyard._________________________________________________________________________________"Delirious Druid" {2}{G}Creature - Dryad Horror (Common)

Flying, trampleAt the beginning of your upkeep, reveal the top card of your library. You may put it into your graveyard and draw a card. Otherwise, put it into your hand."Bedlam"{5}{R}{B}3/3_________________________________________________________________________________Personally I would also argue that your example would work better as a uncommon.